


Of Warm Days and Weary Nights

by WillowTea



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff, I guess it's fluff?, M/M, i don't know what to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 13:17:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10537281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowTea/pseuds/WillowTea
Summary: Sometimes all Will and Nico want to do is take naps together.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I dropped in a few characters I used to have on a PJO RP site for more characters. I also based camp activities a bit more on that RP, though I did start re-reading the books and man, camp was stricter than I remember it being. Apologies if it seems a bit messy, especially in the middle, I wanted to flesh it out but I didn't want it to get boring.

There was nothing spectacular about the morning as it started, nothing special about the sun before it rose, and nothing significant about the cloudless sky above. Camp was quiet, as it always was this early in the morning, and the only stirring came from the creatures milling about before the campers. The early morning was no stranger, however, to a certain son of Apollo.

Will Solace woke up before the sun every morning, even if it wasn’t necessary. There was light in the sky, but the sun had yet to reach the horizon when Will woke up to greet it. Through the windows of the cabin he could see the pale blue blanket that was draped over camp and sighed with appreciation for such a solid color. 

Rolling out of his bed he tucked his blankets and made sure his bunk was neat. After adjusting his pillows slightly he grabbed some clothes and changed quickly, shivering as the early morning air bit at his arms and legs despite being inside his cabin. Slipping on a jacket for his early morning escapades, the cabin counselor made sure to run his fingers through his hair a couple of times to tame the frazzled ends that were sticking up of their own free will.

Tugging his shirt down to let out any wrinkles, he smiled at the familiar shirt he hadn’t been able to wear for weeks. As a cabin counselor, wearing his camp shirt was necessary in order to help newer campers identify him in case they needed help. However, after much begging and pleading, Will had managed to convince Chiron to give him and a certain someone the entire day off. Will hadn’t had this opportunity in ages, being the Apollo counselor and all. It was going to be the best day ever, Will was sure of it. 

Slipping on a pair of bright yellow converse, Will jogged quietly out of the cabin, not even bothering with the stairs as he jumped onto the wet grass. The cabin circle was so peaceful this early in the morning and Will absolutely loved seeing the place in complete silence. Any other time of the day the place was packed and busy, so much so that it was always hard to tell what it looked like without people milling about all the time. 

Slowing his excited jog to a steady walk, Will scanned the fields as the cabins disappeared and he approached the small gardening shed on the close end of the strawberry patches. It was locked shut every night, but Will knew how to get it open without needing the key from the Demeter kids. Without hesitation he flipped the hidden door on the side of the shed, amused that no one had found this yet. It had been a joke by the Hermes kids a few months back, nothing serious, just silly. When no one could figure out where the gardening equipment was going, they all blamed the Hermes kids and found the stash of gardening supplies in the back of their cabin.

The whole camp had had a laugh except the Demeter kids, who scolded them without a single ounce of shame. Hermes had promise to never do it again, but everyone knew the Hermes kids never really kept their word.

Still, they hadn’t taken out the hidden passage they had put in and Will found he was able to slip himself discreetly into the dark shed. He picked his way about the nicely organized equipment to where the baskets were in the back, stacked haphazardly as baskets were wont to be stacked. It was impossible to really stack something with a handle, so it was more like they had just been tossed back there by whoever had been tasked with tidying up. 

Either way, the baskets were right where Will figured they would be and he was able to grab a small one before popping back out his entrance toward the fields. 

 

At this time of day, Will could be found almost entirely alone except a few dryads milling about the fields, throwing flirtatious waves at the occasional satyr picking absently at the bushes. Will didn’t say anything to them, but found himself a nice patch of strawberries of his own and began to pick the biggest, ripest ones he could find. The Demeter kids would be able to tell later that someone had picked this bush, they always knew when the plants gave off fruit. If the plant was supposed to give off fruit, but there was no fruit there, then someone had picked it already.

However, it wasn’t like they would be able to tell it was him.

It could easily be a satyr or any other sneaky camper. After the whole ordeal with the Hermes cabin, they would probably jump that way first, anyway. So Will wasn’t at all concerned about being caught. He would get away with this without a hitch.

After having filled the small basket he stood, stretching out his legs and rubbing the goose bumps that had gathered along his skin. It was still chilly, but the sun had just started to rise so it wouldn’t be for much longer. Still, wearing khaki cargo shorts at this time of day wasn’t a smart move. Will knew it wasn’t going to be a problem much longer, he would actually have to ditch his jacket before long. Camp wasn’t cold all day, that was just the night air lingering. 

Picking his way from the fields he noticed several cabins beginning to stir, the bathrooms nearby letting out the tell tale signs that someone was showering. Smiling at the familiar early morning noises, he trotted lightly as he neared the cabin he had been anticipating.

It was a part of the second cabin circle, having been a new addition when a certain someone had arrived several years ago at camp. It stood at the end, straight down the center of the circle. Coming up from behind it, Will, turned around the corner of the dark cabin, laughing lightly at the inability to see in the windows. When the place had been designed, black out curtains had been installed to keep out the early morning sun. Which was why anyone sleeping in there never woke up on time.

Slipping a small card out of his pocket, he placed the basket of strawberries on the front porch just in front of the door, standing the card up inside of it, nestled amongst the strawberries. Smiling at the small gift, he trotted away from the cabin, not even thinking about going in an waking up the lone resident from his sleep. Will had learned a long time ago how bad of an idea that was.

Jogging lightly away from the cabin he turned to look at all the cabins around him, the wonderful new buildings almost sparkling in the sun that had just begun to rise, lighting the camp with beautiful light and filling Will with more energy.

“Will! Hey, wait for me!” The shout came from one of the cabins to his left and Will whipped his head around to find a familiar face jogging toward him. Slowing to a stop, he waited for Lou Ellen to catch up, a dopey grin on her face, more awake than usual. 

“G’mornin’ sunshine. You’re up as early as usual.” Lou Ellen commented, the two picking up a slow walking pace as they headed toward the pavilion for breakfast. Will smiled brightly, agreeing whole heartedly with her without even saying a word.

“Yep, I had some stuff to do before breakfast.” Will responded, looking back quickly over his shoulder to glance at the brooding cabin behind them. Lou Ellen didn’t even turn her head but just smiled knowingly. 

“Right, of course.” She responded, smug expression on her face as if it was some kind of inside joke. Will rolled his eyes and shook his head, chuckling lightly at her before she suddenly began to speak again. “Hey, you’re not wearing your camp shirt!” The lively girl turned to address the fact that Will was, in fact, wearing a blue shirt with various Hawaiian flowers decorating the front like a logo.

“Yeah, Chiron’s letting me have the day off.” Will grinned, more than happy that he had finally convinced the centaur to let him spend the day with his boyfriend. It was going to be chalk full of fun and activities that they were going to enjoy doing. Ever since he had gotten together with the broody son of Hades, Will had found very little time to really spend alone time with him, so this was going to be the best day ever and nothing was going to stop that.

“That’s nice. I wish I could have a day off.” Lou Ellen grumbled, pouting her lower lip out as she said this. Will couldn’t help but laugh as they finally reached the open air pavilion where several campers were already up and about, some sitting at their tables for breakfast. Will’s own table had the most campers sitting at it, the Apollo cabin was notorious for having morning people. 

“Maybe if you ask him he’ll consider it.” Will suggested and Lou Ellen rolled her eyes at him, ready to shoot back a retort when someone calling Will’s name caught his attention. Turning toward the source of the noise he caught sight of one rather gangly son of Tyche, large glasses pushed up his face, brown hair cropped short and out of the way, waving at him to get his attention. “I’ll have to finish this conversation later, Lou.” Will said, tone apologetic as he approached the Tyche table.

“Hey, Hollister. What can I help you with?” Will asked, slipping his hands lazily into his jacket pockets, registering the coming warmth and realizing he was going to have to ditch the jacket sooner than he thought. 

“Emma wanted to know if you could help her set up her training session? She needs more hands than her own.” Hollister responded, resting his head on his hand and looking up at Will casually. His large glasses amplified his eyes to an amusing size, but the guy never ceased to be slightly intimidating.

“You can’t help?” Will asked, raising an eyebrow and giving Hollister a smirk. The other teen responded with a shrug and an eye roll.

“She said she wanted to keep it a secret from the campers she would be working with.” The brunette explained, tilting his head sideways as if calculating something. The guy always looked as if he was thinking everything through but Will had long since gotten over the calculating look. Sighing, Will ran his fingers through his hair and looked around. The pavilion was slowly filling up, but there was still no sign of a certain son of Hades.

“Did she want me specifically? Are there other counselors she could ask?” Will asked, turning back to the Tyche table as a couple of other campers sat down with their plates. The children of Tyche generally seemed to have brown hair, but their eye colors varied greatly. Hollister’s were a dark brown, similar to his hair, but the counselor had the brightest green eyes Will had ever seen. 

“Sure, but you’re the only counselor I’ve seen this morning.” Hollister responded with another shrug, picking his cup off the table to take a sip of what appeared to be apple juice. Will sighed, the day already going wrong. But this was only one thing, maybe if he finished it fast enough he could get the day started right after. Plus, his boyfriend still hadn’t come out for breakfast. 

“Alright, fine. Where is she at?” Will caved, his shoulders drooping as he gave in, hoping desperately this would be it. It wasn’t like he was the only capable counselor there was, but if Emma didn’t have a helper in time she wouldn’t have her session prepared by the time breakfast was over. Will didn’t want anything to go wrong just because he insisted it was his day off.

“The arena.” Hollister responded, picking up his fork and picking at the eggs he had on his plate. Will sighed and jogged toward the banquet table, grabbing some food to scoop onto a plate before dumping a good portion into the fire.

“Please let this day run smoothly.” He prayed under his breath before shoveling as much of it into his mouth as he could and heading off toward the arena. 

 

No light filtered into the black room as the muffled sounds of a waking camp trickled in through small cracks in the walls. It wasn’t until a particularly loud bang that the lone occupant of the Hades cabin jumped in his bed and toppled out of it, landing heavily on the hardwood floor.

Groaning at the goose egg he was developing on his head, he pushed himself into a sitting position, pulling his right leg off the bed where it had remained and running his fingers through his hair to tame it. Not that it needed taming, it looked fine the way it was. 

Nico di Angelo moaned at how much the camp enjoyed early morning and late nights. Sure, he was dating the most morning person he had ever met, but that didn’t make him a morning person. Personally, Nico related more to the Hypnos cabin, who enjoyed sleeping just about as much as he did, if not more. 

With a large yawn, Nico turned to look at the clock on the wall of his cabin, jumping when he realized it was already seven forty-five and he only had fifteen minutes to eat breakfast. It may have been his day off, but that didn’t mean they would be extending breakfast times for him. Shooting to his feet he tossed his blanket back onto his bed and dug out the first shirt he could find.

Throwing this on quickly he pulled on a black pair of jeans before adding the finishing touch of massive combat boots that were probably too big for his feet. He completed the look by pulling a comb through his hair a couple of times, only succeeding in pulling out any knots but not taming the mess in the least. 

Bursting from his cabin door the first thing he did was trip down the stairs when he noticed something sitting on the porch. Groaning from his second fall that morning, he pushed himself back to his feet with a groan to find a small basket toppled to its side, strawberries spilling out of it. There was a small piece of paper among the strawberries, which he picked out after righting the poor basket.

‘Hope you slept well. These are for you.’

Was all it said. However, Nico knew immediately who it was from and couldn’t help but smile slightly at the cheesy way Will wrote, Sure, these were probably the least poetic words he could have used, and he hadn’t included a heart this time around, but just reading it he could hear the words in his boyfriends voice and they were just straight up cheesy. 

Shaking his head, he laughed lightly before slipping the note into his jeans pocket and grabbing the basket, making a bee line for the pavilion where a few stragglers could be found milling about the tables. Nico turned toward the banquet table but found himself running into someone immediately. 

There was a small yelp from the person before him, but it was immediately extinguished when they made eye contact.

“Oh, Nico, it’s just you. I was afraid you were Sherman or Blake.” The small person standing before him was one of the older residents of the Hebe cabin, a petite build making it almost impossible to tell that they were sixteen. 

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apologize.” Nico grumbled, realizing how solid Cyrus was despite their small size. If Cyrus hadn’t been claimed by Hebe shortly after arriving, Nico would have sworn they were a child of Ares. Immediately they crossed their arms and raised an eyebrow at Nico.

“And you don’t have to apologize?” They asked, tone snarky and positively dripping with a challenge. Or maybe a child of Nike. Either way, their attitude got them into so much trouble they were often the target of the Ares cabins anger. Mainly Sherman or Blake, the counselor and his younger brother, who had actually beaten Cyrus up the first day he had arrived. Cyrus wasn’t normally afraid of anything, but there was always a small hint of fear when ever Sherman or Blake came up. 

“Right, sorry for not watching where I’m going.” Nico muttered, knowing that, not only was Cyrus right, but there was no getting passed them until he gave in. This seemed to please Cyrus enough because they waved it off.

“Nah, I wasn’t watching where it was going either.” The petite brunette glanced around for a moment as if looking for someone but stopped when they realized Nico was doing the same. “Will’s not out here. I haven’t actually seen him at all today, so if that’s who you’re looking for, I can’t help.” Cyrus was always ready to jump to conclusions. Half the time they were right, and this was one of those times. 

“Oh, okay. Thanks, Cy. Stay out of trouble.” Nico responded, turning to Cyrus who had already started to walk away. There was a scoff from Cyrus before they turned back around and gave Nico an incredulous look. There was no doubt it was fake.

“Me? Trouble? Pfft, you’re crazy.” Cyrus laughed, rolling their eyes before turning back around and jogging to catch up with a few of the Hermes campers who were all headed toward the arena. There was still time left to eat breakfast, so Nico grabbed a bit off the table and dumped some of it into the fire before sitting down at his table to eat.

Months ago, after the fight against Gaea, Nico had returned to camp permanently. Sure, he still visited Camp Jupiter and Hazel, but after his talk with his father, he had stopped visiting the Underworld frequently. Camp Half-Blood was currently his permanent residence, and sitting alone at his table had gotten quiet, well, lonely. 

After about a month of this Nico had asked if someone could sit with him. Chiron explained that he would be alright with it if the tables weren’t the domain of each god or goddess. The gods were terribly territorial about their tables and their cabins. When Nico brought up what Hades had said to him, Chiron had shrugged and told him they could give it a go.

Will had started sitting at his table ever since. Lou Ellen and Cecil had joined them every once in a while, and almost everyone in camp was now comfortable with sitting down at the Hades table if they needed to talk to Nico or Will. Hades had yet to blast someone for it, so Nico figured it was safe for everyone. The same went for his cabin, though Chiron insisted anyone in the Hades cabin had to leave by curfew if they weren’t Nico.

Sitting along, eating his strawberries, Nico felt the same dreadful loneliness that had lead to his desire for a table companion. There were only a couple of campers left and they were racing to drop their plates off so they could get to the training session Nico didn’t need to attend. It was empty within seconds and Nico felt lost and left out.

“Ah! Nico!” The shout came from behind him, a very out of breath little girl running right up to his table when he whipped around to see who it was. Her fiery red hair was weaved behind her head in a thick braid that contained the usually messy curls. It had always reminded him of Hazel, which had lead to his fondness for this girl. 

“Is something wrong, Nicole?” He asked, turning slightly so he was facing the breathless daughter of Hephaestus. She held up her index finger to catch her breath before turning to look at him.

“Have you seen Calum or Leo? There’s a mechanical something running lose in the forges and I can’t get it to stop.” Nicole explained, her face red from the exertion running to the pavilion had given her. Her face was sprayed with a thick layer of freckles, something her older brother, Calum, hadn’t inherited. 

“No, I just got here. They’re probably at the training session, where you should have been five minutes ago.” Nico responded, realizing that she shouldn’t have been in the forges during breakfast in the first place. It was too early for something this crazy. Then again, he was dealing with Nicole and the girl was almost as unpredictable as Leo. 

“Um, well, yeah, about that….” Nicole scratched her cheek nervously and looked away from Nico as she spoke, giving him plenty of reason to believe she had something to do with the mechanical something lose in the forges. 

“Alright, fine. Is this something that can be left alone or will it do too much damage on its own?” Nico asked, trying his best to put on his counselor persona. Chiron had told him that his staying at camp would mean he would be counselor of the Hades cabin. Leading training sessions and helping campers wasn’t what Nico was comfortable with, but he had grown used to it in the last several months. Oddly enough, it felt harder than fighting Gaea or bringing the Athena Parthenos all the way to camp. 

“Um, well, you wouldn’t want to walk in on it without a shield.” Nicole explained and Nico felt himself getting exasperated by her explanations. The girl was one of their newest campers, only twelve and definitely having no trouble getting used to the camp atmosphere. 

“Why?” Nico asked, not even bothering to ask any more specific questions. He didn’t need to know everything, but he certainly needed to know some things. 

“It may or may not be shooting poisonous blow darts everywhere.” She finally responded, her nervous expression turning even more red and avoiding Nico with even more fluttery eye blinks. Nico groaned, absolutely done with this girl already. He may have had a fondness for her because of her resemblance to Hazel, but it infuriated him to no end that that was where the resemblance ended. 

“Alright, fine. Go find Calum or Leo and I’ll deal with the blow dart thing.” Nico grumbled, shooing her off before rising to his feet, the basket and the last strawberry forgotten as he jogged toward the forges. Where was Will when he needed him? 

 

“Alright, that should be good!” Emma called from her perch atop the oddly shaped structure she was using for her training session. A lot had changed about the way camp was run and that had included how training sessions worked. Half the camp trained in the arena with a counselor and the other half trained wherever their counselor so desired. Training sessions had gotten large and one on one instruction was harder, but it had proved to be far more useful than the training they had done with only one cabin. It was likely because of the broader perspective they could get with more eyes.

“What even is this thing?” Will called, wiping an arm across his forehead as he took a step back to look up at the structure she stood on. Calum and Leo stood on the other and double checking some bolts and rigging to make sure it was as stable as possible. The Tyche counselor was being very ambitious, but most counselors had upped their game since the battle with Camp Jupiter. 

“It’s an obstacle course! Complete with climbing ropes and moving pieces!” Emma shouted, grabbing hold of a rope beside her to swing down toward Will where she landed with an especially dramatic flourish. There had been many obstacle course training sessions that tested the demigods in many different ways, but this was certainly something. However, it was reasonable to use something so complex, since most campers needed something to test their limits.

“Well, it looks like fun. It’s too bad I won’t get to try it out.” Will commented, looking across the arena as the first campers began to trickle in. Crap, breakfast was almost over and he had yet to see Nico! 

“Did Chiron give you a day off?” Emm asked, voice incredulous as Will turned back to her, her bright green eyes widening with surprise. She looked nearly identical to most of her siblings, like every cabin, with her green eyes and nearly black hair. It fell across her back in an inky sheen, the light from the rising sun the only source to prove it was actually brown. 

“Yup! I plan to spend all day relaxing and enjoying camp.” Will said with a grin and immediately Emma gave him a knowing look. It hadn’t been terribly long since Will had started dating Nico, but it wasn’t exactly a secret. The whole camp had figured it out in less than a day. That was how things went when you were friends with Lou Ellen. Sometimes Will was sure that she should was actually a Hermes kid and had just been claimed incorrectly. 

“Then I don’t want to keep you for much longer!” Emma exclaimed, patting Will firmly on the back to encourage him toward the exit. He thanked her quickly before jogging toward the arena’s entrance, campers still trickling in for the training session. The last few were jogging in as Will exited the arena.

With a swift pace, Will hoped and prayed that Nico was still at the pavilion and wasn’t upset for Will’s tardiness. They were supposed to spend the entire day together and Will didn’t want Nico to think he wasn’t important enough to spend time with. As Will jogged across the expansive grass toward the pavilion he saw a smaller camper sprinting toward him, bright red hair shining in the sun.

“Nicole, what are you doing out here? You were supposed to be at the training session several minutes ago.” Will said, slowing to a stop as Nicole did so in front of him. Her face seemed a bit panicked and she was panting from the effort of running. She didn’t even answer him, but instead asked him where Calum and Leo were. 

“They’re at the training session. Nicole, what’s wrong?” Will asked too late because she had already sprinted off toward the arena, Will turning swiftly to run up beside her. This girl had always been a bit of a handful, more of extrovert than most of her siblings, and far more unpredictable than even Leo.

“I’ll…tell you…when I explain…to…Leo.” Nicole explained in between breaths as the two broke through the arena entrance where a large gathering of campers could be found surrounding Emma’s contraption. Leo and Calum stood on either side of it as if guarding. Nicole raced right up to Calum, who was closest, ignoring Emma and the rest of the campers watching. As a good counselor, Emma continued her spiel, redirecting everyone’s attention to her.

“Nicole? What’s wrong?” Calum’s voice was low and it always surprised Will that this gentle teen had such an intimidating voice. He was well respected among the campers and a good leader, despite his protests. Leo had been more than enthusiastic to tag team as the Hephaestus head counselor, especially since Calum was better at dealing with fights and disagreements than him.

“I may or may not have set loose a rampaging blow dart machine in the forges.” Nicole responded, avoiding eye contact with her older half brother, shuffling her feet and wringing her hands nervously. Calum sighed and gave her a fond smile before resting a hand on her shoulder and dropping into a crouch so he could look her in the eye. 

“Did you try turning it off?” He asked and Nicole gave a big groan of exasperation, as if Calum was stupid to think she hadn’t thought of that.

“Yeah, but I can’t get to it! It just keeps shooting poisonous blow darts at me!” She exclaimed, looking into his eyes to show how very desperate she was to solve this. Calum gave her a surprised look, a single eyebrow rising out of shock. Nicole laughed nervously.

“Right, how many did you put in?” Calum asked, continuing to look her in the eye as he asked. Nicole sheepishly looked away as he asked and began to wring her hands again.

“Um, I didn’t count. I kind of just…dumped a bunch into it.” Nicole responded, her face turning red from embarrassment. Calum nodded and smiled reassuringly at her before rising to his feet. He turned to Will, his tall stature towering above Will. Calum really wasn’t that tall, he just came off as such with his size.

“I’m going to go check this out. Can you watch the obstacle course so nothing comes undone while I’m gone?” Calum asked and Will felt his heart sink. This was really important, a counselor’s job was to help, but Will had been dying to spend time with his boyfriend for months. With a sigh he nodded, rubbing his hands down his face.

“Yeah, sure. I can do that.” Will responded, feeling the disappointment leak into his voice visibly. He felt a firm hand on his shoulder and looked up with find the fiery eyes of Calum looking into his. They were warm and reassuring.

“I promise this won’t take long.” Calum said, giving Will a small smile that the shorter teen couldn’t help but return. Calum was one of the most reliable counselors at camp, which was saying something because all counselors were reliable, that was their job. He watched with disappointment as the siblings jogged off, Nicole explaining how Nico was in the forges right now trying to fend it off.

Wait, Nico?!

Will felt himself disintegrate more and more at the thought that his boyfriend was also getting caught up in counselor duties on his day off. This was going to be a long day.

 

It was hot, as usual, but Nico was almost surprised to recall just how hot the forges were. He didn’t visit them very often since they were kind of Hephaestus’ thing and he already had a weapon. He never really needed anything from the forges, so he just generally steered clear of them. 

As he jogged toward the burning inferno that was the forges, he heard the sounds of something bouncing off the hard, concrete walls. Grabbing a shield off the floor near the entrance to the forges, he blocked the darts he knew were coming.

Nicole had been right about the thing being crazy, it was spinning wildly on some kind of rotation that allowed it a full three-sixty rotation. It rolled about the room on wheels as well, swinging back and forth and left and right, shooting darts in entirely random directions. Nico had always been slightly in awe of the way Hephaestus kids were able to build just about anything, but this was ridiculous. What had Nicole been thinking? Was this just a test run? If so, why had she given it poisonous darts instead of just sticks or even some kind of soft foam?

As he thought this a dart shot directly toward him but bounced harmlessly off the shield as he advanced further into the room. In all honesty, he had no idea what he was doing. He had promised Nicole he would go to the forges, but what had he intended to do while here? Nicole was the only one who knew how to shut it off and Nico didn’t want to just destroy it. She could probably fix it.

But what was he supposed to do?

Nico stood at the entrance to the forges with the shield out in front of himself, thinking things over. Nicole was going to get a Hephaestus counselor to help out, someone who might actually be able to do something, so maybe if he just waited it out. It probably didn’t have very many darts left anyway.

A dart shot right passed his face as he thought this and Nico jumped a good foot in the air. 

“Okay, can’t let my guard down.” He muttered to himself, watching as the thing spun around several more times, rolling about the room without a particular destination. Nico watched it with complete focus, trying hard to avoid any darts that came his way. It felt like hours before the sounds of running feet could be heard behind him. 

“Nico! Thanks for the help!” It was Nicole who called this to him as she approached, ducking behind his shield and looking over it warily. The thing was still shooting darts willy nilly, but that didn’t stop the Hephaestus cabin counselor as he stepped toward it without hesitation.

“Wait, it could hit you!” Nico exclaimed, watching with pure awe as the larger teen stepped toward the machine, a single hand outstretched as if calming the thing down before he approached. Calum didn’t seem at all fazed by the darts shooting passed him, a few nearly hitting.

“It won’t shoot me.” Calum responded, not even looking behind himself as he said it, continuing toward the machine without hesitation before placing a single hand on it. Immediately it sagged in on itself as if letting out a massive sigh and then falling asleep. Calum walked around to the back of it to pop open the loading compartment and remove the darts that were loaded in there.

Without hesitation he simply dropped them onto a table nearby and then guided the machine toward the same table where he leaned it against the bench. With that he turned back toward Nico and Nicole. Immediately, Nicole ducked behind the shield where Calum couldn’t see her. Nico dropped it to the ground to reveal her and allow Calum to talk to her for a bit.

“When doing tests, you should use something soft and harmless, alright?” Calum explained, his tone firm but not angry. Nicole nodded her understanding sheepishly. With a large grin, Calum rubbed her head and grabbed her into a small side hug by her shoulders.

“Thanks for putting up with the thing, Nico.” Calum said after turning back toward the forge entrance. Nico shrugged, feeling awkward in the presence of such a large person. Calum was quiet too, but he was also rather intimidating despite being a really nice person.

“Yeah, well, I was waiting for someone anyway.” Nico responded with a shrug, not avoiding eye contact. He wasn’t as social as Will was, but he was getting better at not being rude every time someone talked to him. It was still a work in progress, but most of the camp liked him at this point.

“Will, right? He’s at Emma’s training session filling in for me.” Calum explained, starting toward the exit with Nicole under his arm. Nico fell into step beside them, taking Calum’s explanation as invitation to tag along. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do, since he had the day off. 

As they headed toward the arena they were stopped by a panting camper coming from the lake area.

“Hey, Calum, are you busy?” James asked, bright eyes looking up toward the large Hephaestus counselor. The Hermes cabin was the first cabin to really settle into the fact that Calum wasn’t a scary person and the only ones to continuously feel relaxed around him. James was one of the friendliest campers around and certainly didn’t judge a book by its cover.

“Yeah, I have to help Emma with her training session.” Calum responded and James nodded in understanding before turning to Nico. Immediately his expression turned sheepish and Nico knew what was coming. Everyone knew he had the day off, but it just seemed he had no luck today. Tyche was no on his side.

“What is it, James?” Nico asked, rubbing his hand down his face as he said it, his body already tired despite the still early hour.

“Travis forget to get practice dummies for his session. Could you help me carry a few to the lake?” James asked, rubbing the back of his neck as he gave Nico an apologetic look. The son of Hades let out a big sigh, turning when Calum gave him a firm pat on the back before turning to head toward the arena. 

“Yeah, James. I’ll help.” Nico responded and James gave him an enthusiastic grin, thanking him every step of the way toward the weapon and training shed. 

 

Will was more than enthusiastic when Calum showed back up with Nicole beside him. It hadn’t taken that long, but the training session was already in full swing, campers monkeying about on the obstacle course beside him. 

“That was fast! How’d it go?” Will asked, his impatience probably a little too obvious on his face. Calum nodded simply and Nicole recounted the whole tale, which wasn’t much of a tale to begin with. Will smiled enthusiastically, nodding at the good parts. When she was done, Calum told her to join the others for the training session.

“You’re free to go. Thanks for the help.” Calum said and Will felt his impatience die down just a little bit. Calum was a nice guy and Will was always more than willing to help when he was needed. 

“Yeah, no problem.” Will responded, bright smile filling up his face without hesitation. He turned to head off toward the arena entrance when Calum called his name to get his attention one last time.

“Nico’s helping James get stuff for the lakeside training session.” Calum informed him, giving Will one last wave as the son of Apollo raced out of the arena. So Nico had gotten caught up in something else, huh? Will chuckled lightly to himself, aware that this was probably the last hold up they would have before they could spend the entire rest of the day together.

At this point the sun was very high into the sky and the distant sounds of training could be heard. Will raced toward the lake in the buzzing silence of the morning, the sun on his skin, a skip in his step. He was finally ready to have the best day ever with his boyfriend.

“Will, what are you doing out here?” The voice shocked Will into jumping, nearly tripping over his own feet as he did so. Turning quickly he found Chiron standing to his left, apparently coming from the Big House. Will turned toward the centaur with a grin and a shrug.

“I got caught up helping out a bit. Now I’m off to find Nico.” He responded, glad it was Chiron he had run into instead of another camper needing help. They were all at training sessions anyway, there was no way anyone would ask for help. By the time training sessions were over, he and Nico would have disappeared completely.

“Where’s Nico? I thought you two would have eaten breakfast and then disappeared.” Chiron pointed out, raising an eyebrow with surprise. Will shrugged again, but his smile didn’t break.

“He was helping James get some stuff for the lakeside training session, apparently.” Will responded before brushing a bit of blonde hair from his face. “Yeah, well, I got caught up when I arrived for breakfast early. Apparently Nico got caught up too.” He added, unsure what had actually happened to get Nico caught up like that. 

Chiron nodded with understanding, looking off toward the lake before turning back to Will with a look Will didn’t want to see. It was sheepish, something unbecoming of the age old hero trainer, and definitely apologetic. Will groaned before Chiron even opened his mouth.

“You appear to have a little time. Would you help me set up for archery lessons later? It won’t take long, I promise.” Chiron said, trying to rush in a sort of apology using rationalization. Will nodded in agreement, hoping to the gods that he was right.

 

He was wrong.

After helping set up the archery targets and the bows and arrows, Will had found out that training sessions had ended. Nico was off helping Butch fill buckets with oats and snacks for the Pegasai during his flying lesson. As Will headed toward the stables to track down his boyfriend, he was confronted by Cyrus who insisted had hadn’t intended to piss off Blake yet again.

So the day dragged on. 

Will was bounced across camp, back and forth, never once allowed to stop and so much as look for Nico. After lunch he had just given into not asking where he went. Everyone stopped telling him, but kept apologizing for taking his time away from him. Will continued to tell them it was fine, he was fine.

Nico fell into the same boat, juggled back and forth, helping everyone around camp. He was able to breakaway at lunch for five seconds, but Will wasn’t there, apparently he was helping a few first years set up the volleyball net because someone had taken it down. The slew of excuses he heard from everyone at camp just got more and more ridiculous, but the son of Hades just kept giving in. There was no point, he was never going to see Will.

The sun was setting in the sky by the time Nico found himself with a break. The stars had begun to come out and were freckling the sky lazily as he trekked his way toward his cabin, just looking for an excuse to go to bed early. No one interrupted his trek toward the cabin circle as the sounds of dinner echoed across the camp. Sing along with the Apollo cabin was going to start soon, but Nico could care less. Will wouldn’t be there, it was his day off.

Trekking across the cold grass, Nico shuffled toward the cabin circle, yawning into the cooling night air and letting it out with a big groan. He was sore everywhere from carrying and lifting and pushing and pulling and everything in between because he was a counselor and obligated to help anyone who asked. Even on his day off. 

It was almost as if he had been busier on this day than on most other days, which was silly because he was on duty all other days. He did about as much as he usually did, but there was something about doing work on his day off that made it seem busier.

Finally reaching the second cabin circle he approached his cabin at the end, cabin thirteen, the Hades cabin. As he got closer he realized there was something on the steps. It was brightly colored and stood out against the dark appearance of the cabin. As he got closer he realized it wasn’t a thing, it was a person. Not just any person, it was Will.

With a slightly irritated laugh, Nico approached the steps where Will was sitting, head resting against the wall beside the door, breath coming in slow and steady. He was fast asleep, Nico realized fondly, his eyes shut softly, dark bags beneath them hidden in the low light. That face was something Nico had memorized a long time ago. It was beautiful. 

Groaning loudly he dropped to a seat beside Will on the steps, successfully waking his boyfriend up. Nico yawned and leaned his head against Will’s shoulder as the blonde lifted his own head to look over at him. 

“Morning.” Will muttered, sleep still evident in his voice as Nico grumbled something into Will’s shoulder. There was tired laughter from above Nico’s head, but he didn’t bother to move, even if he enjoyed seeing Will’s face when he laughed. 

“We could still do something. There’s still time in the day. Maybe a picnic under the stars? On the lake, perhaps?” Will suggested, straightening himself slightly and allowing Nico to readjust as well. There came a groan from Nico as way of response and Will clicked his tongue. Nico wasn’t very good at making decisions when it came to dates and hang outs. 

“C’mon, we’ve been busy all day! We have to make this day count for something!” Will insisted, wiggling his shoulders slightly to try and get Nico’s attention. The sleepy black haired teen groaned at him and shook his head, finally opening his eyes to look at Will.

“You don’t honestly want to move around more, do you?” Nico asked, looking almost dead in the low light of the moon. Sure, he always looked dead, that came with being son of the Lord of the Underworld, but he looked particularly ghostly in the pale light of the moon with dark bags under his eyes. 

“Well, yeah! That’s the entire reason we asked Chiron for this day off!” Will exclaimed, flinching when Nico jabbed him in the gut for being so loud. He apologized softly as Nico rose to a full sitting position, rubbing his tired face with his hands.

“I know, but I’m so exhausted. Wouldn’t you just rather take a nap right about now?” Nico asked, turning to lock eyes with Will, his dark brown locking with pure blue. Will loved Nico’s eyes, despite how similar in color they were to Nico’s hair.

“Yeah, but…. Nicooo?” Will whined as he said Nico’s name, letting out a big sigh and sulking slightly, sagging his shoulders like a child about to throw a fit. Nico groaned, hating how much he loved and hated Will’s attitude when he wanted something. 

“Fine, we can have a picnic by the lake.” Nico muttered, jumping slightly when Will shot to his feet with some newfound energy. How he was able to contain so much energy during the night despite being a day time person was always a mystery to Nico. He took Will’s hand when it was offered and rose to his feet.

“Alright, I’ll grab a blanket from my cabin and then we can pop by the pavilion to grab a bit of food.” Will explained, not letting go of Nico’s hand when they started off toward the first cabin circle. Nico didn’t mind, as Will readjusted his hold so their fingers were woven together. 

Nico followed along behind Will as he did what he had said he would. Nico held the blanket as Will dragged him to the pavilion where he grabbed food off the banquet table and dumped a lot of it into a basket before dumping a good lot of it into the fire. Nico tossed in a bit as well so the gods didn’t think he was skipping out. He would be eating the food too, anyway.

The trek to the lake was tiring and left Nico yawning some more as Will laid out the blanket and set down the basket full of food. Nico settled onto the blanket that sat atop the squishy, sandy bank of the lake. It wasn’t terribly soft, but it sure beat standing. 

“I’m glad I get to spend a little time with you, even if it’s not as much as we had wanted.” Will said, smiling at Nico, who had to put in a lot of effort just to turn his head. He smiled at Will in response to what he said, and they broke open the basket. They managed to get through a small portion of what was in the basket before Nico finally gave in and leaned down to rest his head on Will’s lap. 

Softly, the son of Apollo hummed a song that reminded Nico of home and family and friends and felt content as his breathing evened out and he slowly drifted off.

Chiron found them an hour later, after the campfire had finished and everyone had headed to bed. Nico had rolled onto Will’s stomach after the blonde had laid back himself to sleep. For a couple of minutes, Chiron let them rest like this just a little longer. They deserved to sleep just a little longer.


End file.
